We see them on busy roads, outside hospitals and sometimes rushing through traffic with their sirens on. Yet one detail about ambulances rarely makes us stop and think: why are so many of them white?

It may look like a simple colour choice, but an ambulance is not designed quite like an ordinary vehicle. Its colour has to work alongside everything else on the vehicle, from medical symbols and reflective strips to the lights used during an emergency.

Here are some of the practical reasons why white became such a familiar colour for ambulances.

Images: Canva (for representative purposes only)